N.B. premier earns less than bureaucrats, won't ask for raise
New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham is pulling in a much smaller weekly paycheque than hundreds of civil servantswho report to him, according to new figures released by the province.
A report from the Comptroller's Office says the premier's job isNo. 284 on the list of best-paid government positions.
Next year, Graham will earn the equivalent of about $135,000.
His predecessor, former premierBernard Lord, took home about the same pay, along with a controversial yearly $60,000 top-up from the New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Party, making him the highest-paid premier in Canada.
Graham said he won't accept any extra money from his party, and won't ask for a raise from taxpayers.
But Saint John Liberal MLA Abel LeBlanc said it's time to re-evaluatethe job's worth.
"I definitely think, with the responsibility the premier's got, he should be paid at least the highest or in the top five of the highest in the province of New Brunswick."
Last year, the highest-paid person inthe New Brunswick government was NB Power president David Hay,at $357,818.
Other senior NB Power executives also earned substantially more than the premier. They included vice-president of finance Sharon MacFarlane, at $207,779, andvice-president of distributionRock Marois, at $200,738.
In total, 84 NB Power employees took home more than the premier's job paid last year, although some of those 84 included retirees with generous severance packages.
LeBlanc says the salary gap between the premier and the power corporation is out of whack. "When you look at NB Powerand these guys with the big jobs and such, I don't think that they have the responsibility the premier of the province has."
Outsideof NB Power, six employees of the New Brunswick Investment Management Corporation – the group that manages government employee pension funds – make more than the premier, including President John Sinclair who took home $342,548 last year.
New Brunswick's Hospital Corporations paid 130 people more than the premier last year, including Region 2 Hospital corporation Dora Nicinski,who made $186,653.
Even Graham's old political opponent, former NDPLeaderElizabeth Weir will be paid more than the premier next yearwith a salary of about$140,000 ashead of New Brunswick's Office of Energy Efficiency.
In 1987, former premier Richard Hatfield's annual $93,000 paycheque made him one of the highest-paid people in government. By contrast, and with inflation factored in, Graham will earn about 15 per centless than his predecessor two decades ago.